Citizen Cartwright

More on ‘legendary,’ ‘widely loved’ hacker Dan Kaminsky

I ran his New York Times obituary in the “also in the news” section on Wednesday, but “internet security savior” Dan Kaminsky deserves more attention. I hadn’t heard of him, but someone who became “an icon in all the positive ways” must be celebrated.

 

Kaminsky died April 23 at his home in San Francisco of complications of diabetes at the age of 42.

 

He was a respected practitioner of “penetration testing,” the business of compromising the security of computer systems for owners who want to harden their systems from attack, says the Times. It was a profession his mother says he first developed a knack for as a four-year-old, after his father gave him a computer from Radio Shack. By the time he was five he'd taught himself to code.

 

"Kaminsky was a well known and widely loved figure, for his character, his skills and his research,” says Infosecurity Magazine. "He was a fixture in the security conference scene, in particular at the annual Black Hat and DEFCON security conferences where he was legendary for numerous discoveries and research. Kaminsky will forever be remembered for the flaw in DNS that he discovered in 2008 and was able to rally the entire technology industry together to literally save the internet as we know it."

 

In a community known for its biting, sometimes misogynistic discourse on Twitter, Kaminsky stood out for his empathy, says the Times. He was a mentor to journalists and aspiring hackers.

 

"Looking back, what stands out the most to me is the example of a humble beginner's mind that Dan brought to everything and everyone," Trey Ford, vice president for platform strategy and trust at Salesforce, told Infosecurity. "He had this excitement about unlocking, learning, and sharing new information about literally anything — whether the learning was his own, or yours — and he met anyone right where they were. Patient. No judgement. His passion for sharing and learning was infectious and exemplary.”

 

Here are more reactions to Kaminsky’s passing, from ZDNet. 

Also in the news

Supreme Court hands victory to immigrants facing deportation

AP: Biden policy priorities that can pass and those that face steep odds

NYTimes: Interview with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, on his task to make Biden’s proposals reality

Senate passes bipartisan $35 billion water infrastructure bill on 89-2 vote

Senate confirms former Florida Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson to lead NASA, by unanimous consent

Florida GOP passes voter restrictions targeting mailed ballots, drop boxes
 
Vox: Astronomers' frustration as Elon Musk’s satellites obstruct the view of the night sky

NYTimes guest essay: Principle of exponential decay means pandemic's worst may be over sooner than we think

Biden’s speech to Congress focuses on families, jobs

The president "laid out an ambitious agenda on Wednesday night to rewrite the American social compact by vastly expanding family leave, child care, health care, preschool and college education for millions of people to be financed with increased taxes on the wealthiest earners,” says The New York Times.

 

"We take the top tax bracket for the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans, those making over $400,000 or more, back to what it was when George W. Bush was president, 39.6 percent. That's [what] it was when he was president. We are going to get rid of the loopholes that allow Americans to make more than a million dollars a year and pay a lower tax rate on capital gains than Americans who receive a paycheck. We are only going to affect 3/10 of 1 percent — .3 percent of Americans. It will crack down on America — millionaires and billionaires who cheat on their taxes. I am not looking to punish anybody. But I will not add a tax burden, an additional tax burden to the middle class in this country. They are already paying enough."

 

Politico’s headline: "Biden embraces his inner Robin Hood.”

 

Biden spoke the word “jobs” 43 times, says The Associated Press. "It’s perhaps no surprise for an administration that has made beating back the pandemic and getting Americans back to work the central guideposts for success,” says AP.

 

During the pandemic, 20 million working and middle class Americans lost their jobs, Biden said.

 

"At the same time, roughly 650 billionaires in America saw their net worth increased by more than $1 trillion, the same exact period. They are now worth more than $4 trillion. My fellow Americans, trickle-down economics has never worked and it is time to grow the economy from the bottom and the middle out.”

 

"There are some indications that Americans back Biden’s aggressive approach,” says an AP analysis. "According to The Associated Press’ VoteCast survey of the electorate, 57 percent of voters in the 2020 presidential election said the government should be doing more to solve problems, while 41 percent said it was doing too many things better left to businesses and individuals.

"Those who backed a broader government role in addressing the nation’s challenges overwhelmingly voted for Biden,” the analysis says. "But the AP VoteCast survey also showed that 28 percent of voters who supported former President Donald Trump were in favor of a more active federal government."

 

In his hour-long speech, Biden also discussed the 220 million coronavirus vaccine shots administered in his first 100 days, his climate summit, competing with China, giving Medicare the power to negotiate lower drug prices, rooting out systemic racism in the criminal justice system and enacting police reform, and closing the loopholes in background checks for guns.

 

In the Republican response to Biden’s speech, Sen. Tim Scott, S.C., said, "Our president seems like a good man.” But, he said, "Our best future won’t come from Washington schemes or socialist dreams."

 

Here is a fact check of Biden’s and Scott’s speeches, from AP.

 

Here is an annotated transcript of Biden’s speech, from Politico.

 

And here is the text of Scott’s speech, from U.S. News.

Also in the news

EU lawmakers give final ratification to post-Brexit trade treaty

 

World's glaciers melting at faster rate, satellite data show

 

Senate votes to effectively reinstate Obama-era rule on emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse gas

 

Harris, Pelosi, seated behind Biden at speech, make history for women

 

Biden administration lifts barriers to prescribing addiction treatment drug buprenorphine

 

Michael Collins, ‘third man’ of 1969 moon landing, dies at 90

As workers suffered through 2020, CEO pay surged

"While millions of Americans struggled to make ends meet in 2020, America’s top CEOs compensation packages were as generous as ever — and, in some cases, historically grandiose,” says Fortune.

 

Salary cuts CEOs took at the depths of the coronavirus crisis had little effect, and the stock market’s rebound boosted what top executives took home because much of their compensation comes in the form of equity, says The Wall Street Journal.

 

“Many companies maintained the bottom line – and their stock prices – in part by laying off workers,” Fortune says.

 

At many of the companies hit hardest by the pandemic, the executives in charge were "showered with riches,” says The New York Times.

 

With travel halted, Norwegian Cruise Line lost $4 billion and furloughed 20 percent of its staff. But the pay of CEO Frank Del Rio doubled to $36.4 million, says the Times.

At Hilton, nearly a quarter of the corporate staff was laid off and the company lost $720 million. Chris Nassetta, its chief executive, received compensation worth $55.9 million.

 

"The divergent fortunes of CEOs and everyday workers illustrate the sharp divides in a nation on the precipice of an economic boom but still racked by steep income inequality," says the Times. "The stock markets are up and the wealthy are spending freely, but millions are still facing significant hardship. Executives are minting fortunes while laid-off workers line up at food banks."

 

Chief executives of large companies now make, on average, 320 times as much as their typical worker, the Economic Policy Institute says. In 1989, the ratio was 61 to 1. From 1978 to 2019, compensation grew 14 percent for typical workers and 1,167 percent for CEOs.

 

“To my mind, they’re the logical consequence of our total embrace of shareholder capitalism, starting with the corporate raiders of the 1980s, to the exclusion and sacrifice of all else, including American workers,” says Robert Reich, a labor secretary under President Clinton. “The pay packages reflect soaring share prices, which in turn reflect, at least in part, the willingness if not eagerness of corporations to cut payrolls at the slightest provocation.”

 

In some cases, investors have responded to CEOs’ pay increases by withholding support for company pay practices in annual advisory votes, increasing pressure on corporate boards, says the WSJ. Shareholders have given a thumbs down to pay arrangements at companies including Starbucks and Walgreens.

Also in the news

In China, most workers retire by 60, but government says that has to change

 

Biden signs executive order to increase minimum wage to $15 an hour for federal contract workers

 

Biden releases $8 billion in loans to modernize U.S. electric grid

Biden to call for universal preschool in first joint address to Congress Wednesday night

 

Biden seeking $80 billion to beef up IRS audits of high-earners to help pay for education, childcare programs

 

Houston-area Sheriff Ed Gonzalez nominated to be director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement

AP: Fear, lack of funding hurt census in Sun Belt, some advocates say

Arizona governor signs bill making it a crime to perform abortions based on genetic conditions

 

CDC says fully-vaccinated Americans now can go outside without a mask

 

Daniel Kaminsky dies at 42 (NYTimes says people reading this obituary online owe their digital safety to him)

What the initial census numbers mean

Over the past decade, the U.S. population grew at the second slowest rate since the government started counting in 1790, the result of a slowdown in immigration and a declining birthrate, the Census Bureau reported on Monday.

 

There were 331,449,281 of us last year, a 7.4 percent increase over the previous decade, the lowest growth rate since the Great Depression.

 

Experts say the slow growth rate reflects the combination of an aging population, slowing immigration and the impact of the Great Recession more than a decade ago, which led many young adults to delay marriage and families. 

 

And the 2020 census was conducted amid a once-in-a-century coronavirus pandemic, wildfires, hurricanes, allegations of political interference with the Trump administration’s failed effort to add a citizenship question, fluctuating deadlines and lawsuits.

 

The bureau also reported on Monday changes to the country's political map reflecting the ongoing trend of the South and West gaining population — and the congressional representation that goes with it — at the expense of the Northeast and Midwest.

 

Colorado, Florida, Montana, North Carolina and Oregon each gained one seat. Texas gained two.

 

Illinois, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia lost seats. And so did California, a long-time leader in population growth, which lost a seat for the first time in its 170-year history of statehood. 

The new state population counts will be used to reapportion seats in Congress and in the Electoral College. The count is critical in determining billions of dollars in federal funding as well as state and local planning around everything from schools to housing to hospitals.

 

Congressional reapportionment is a zero sum game, with states dividing up the 435 House seats based on population advantages that can be very small. If New York had counted 89 more residents, the state would have kept its seat and Minnesota would have lost one, officials say.

 

The reshuffling of the congressional map moves seats from blue states to red ones, giving Republicans a clear, immediate advantage, says The Associated Press. The party will have complete control of drawing the congressional maps in Texas, Florida and North Carolina.

 

And although Democrats control the process in Oregon, Democratic lawmakers there have agreed to give Republicans an equal say in redistricting in exchange for a commitment to stop blocking bills. In Democratic Colorado, a nonpartisan commission will draw the lines, meaning the party won’t have total control in a single expanding state’s redistricting.

 

For now, that population shift gives Republicans the opportunity to shape new congressional districts to maximize the influence of their voters and have a major advantage in upcoming elections — possibly enough to win back control of the House.

But in the long term, it’s not clear that the migration is good news for Republicans. Many of the fastest growing states are increasingly competitive political battlegrounds where the new arrivals — including many young people and people of color — could at some point give Democrats the edge.

 

In California, home prices have soared, contributing to a stream of residents leaving for other Western states. Those relocations have helped turn Colorado and Nevada into Democratic states and made Arizona competitive.

 

Gina Raimondo, the secretary of commerce, called the count “complete and accurate” at a news conference Monday, but questions and potential challenges to the data will most likely surface when the Census Bureau releases the detailed demographic files for each state, says The New York Times. Those files, which are due out by Sept. 30, are the basis for redrawing electoral districts.

 

And that starts "the most politically uncomfortable and unpredictable year Congress must face each decade, when new maps drawn in redistricting force veteran incumbents into retirement, turn former friends into fierce rivals and pitch safe-seat House members into hotly contested elections,” says Politico.

 

Here is a closer look at the 13 states that will gain or lose political power and federal money, from AP.

Also in the news

Islamic State degraded in Afghanistan but still a threat

 

Human Rights Watch accuses Israel of apartheid, persecution of Palestinians

 

Mexico’s indigenous rebels of Zapatista movement to visit Spain 500 years after conquest

China says coal will play less-dominant energy role in its energy mix

 

U.S. to share its stock of AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine with world after it clears federal safety reviews

 

Department of Homeland Security to assess how it identifies extremism in its ranks

 

Senate Appropriations Chairman Patrick Leahy officially announces return of earmarks

 

Lawmakers racing to add their priorities to Biden’s Wednesday night speech to Congress

 

Supreme Court to review longstanding New York law putting strict limits on carrying guns outside the home

 

Supreme Court to decide whether CIA black sites are state secrets

 

Supreme Court declines to hear Texas suit over California travel ban

Montana's governor signs 3 bills restricting abortion access

 

Recall effort against California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom has enough signatures to qualify for ballot

 

Politico: Opinion on the real reason the NY Times has quit using the term ‘op-ed’ for opinion articles

Big investors push nursing homes to upgrade care, working conditions

 

Experimental coronavirus vaccine could be universal protection against future variants, other coronaviruses

Results of Biden’s climate summit

The summit ended Friday with the United States promising to reduce its dependence on fossil fuels and help other countries do it, too. 

 

"But the real test will be Washington’s ability to steer the rest of the world toward cleaner energy fast enough to avert catastrophe,” says The New York Times.

 

"Biden’s pledge to cut America’s climate warming emissions in half by 2030 is technologically feasible and, scientists say, ecologically imperative. Economically, it could be a gamble,” says a separate Times article.

 

The speed of Biden's promised transformation to an economy far less reliant on fossil fuels risks exposing vulnerabilities in the nation’s electricity system and unsettling its transportation sector, while potentially increasing U.S. reliance on goods imported from China, the Times says.

 

The political prospects for Biden's spending and regulatory goals are uncertain, says the Times.

 

All true.

 

But I prefer to focus on this comment from climate scientist Niklas Hohne, a co-founder of the NewClimate Institute in Germany: “We are now starting to see the kind of near-term climate action the world needs to win the race to zero [emissions] by 2050. While the [emissions] gap is still huge, the summit created new momentum.”

Also in the news

Thirty-five years after world’s worst nuclear accident at Chernobyl, Ukraine seeks tourism, World Heritage listing 

 

Breaking with his predecessors, Biden declares mass killings of Armenians a genocide

 

AP: As Biden completes his first 100 days, where he stands on key campaign promises

 

Democrat Troy Carter wins Louisiana special election to fill vacant House seat

 

North Carolina Democratic Rep. David Price, ex-Duke political science prof, eyes centralization of power in book 

Big Pentagon internet mystery is partially solved

How a 1989 Supreme Court ruling shaped modern policing

Federal aid to renters is moving slowly, leaving many at risk

 

Young adults’ relocations are reshaping the nation's political geography

NYTimes column: Everyone is bullish on stock market, but don’t forget to hedge your bets

 

FDA lifts pause on Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine; label will warn of potential for rare blood clots